Nollaig Shona Dhaoibh go léir!
Happy Christmas to You and Your’s!
from all the team at www.giftedbynature.ie

We loved meeting so many of you at the RDS Craft Fair last week, and thank you for your complimentary feedback about Gifted by Nature products.

The Winner of our Christmas Raffle at the stand is:
RUTH MURPHY – Congratulations to Ruth, she wins a gift box of her choice to keep or to gift!

Don’t forget there is still 20% off everything until Noon on 21st December for Newsletter readers!
Just type the word Christmas into the promotion code box at the checkout.

And – there’s still FREE Postage to all addresses in Ireland for the same period! (Will be charged at 0.01 cent)

Last Posting Date for UK is Friday 18th December!

Email Us if you need last minute Gift Ideas or Orders!

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www.twitter.com

True to our Eco-friendly Ethos we thought we’d offer some easy eco-tips for a Green Christmas.

Turn off your fairy lights during daylight, or use a timer. Christmas tree lights left on for 10 hours a day over the 12 days of Christmas produce enough carbon dioxide to inflate 12 balloons!

Buy recycled Christmas cards from charities. Did you know that in UK and Ireland an estimated 1.7 billion Christmas cards are sent each year – the equivalent of 200,000 trees! Approximately 1 million Christmas cards are thrown away every year so make sure you recycle them properly. You can always keep the attractive ones to make homemade ones next year!

Wrap your Gifts with recycled wrapping paper – after all, if you’re going to recycle your rubbish, you should buy the end product too! It’s estimated that 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper end up in UK and Irish bins each year – arrgh!
Of course, if you’ve bought a Gifted by Nature Gift box, it’s already recycled / recyclable / reusable packaging and doesn’t need to be wrapped either!

Burn Natural Candles (like ours!) or beeswax and natural vegetable-based candles because they biodegradable and smoke-free. (Paraffin candles are made from petroleum residues and do neither your health nor the environment any good)

Decorate using homemade and natural decorations – try stringing popcorn, or tying up bundles of cinnamon sticks, holly, seasonal berries, ivy and evergreen branches – once you have finished with them, you can put them in the composter.

Two Great Decoration ‘Recipes’ Below! They’re easy, they work, and they are fun to do with children – so pass this newsletter on if you know someone else who’d enjoy them!

Pomander Balls are so fragrant and spicy – and really easy to make. (‘Child’s play’ quite literally!) They look great if they’re hanging on pretty ribbons, or just set in a lovely bowl on a table in your hall.

A pomander ball is simply a piece of fruit, traditionally an orange, that has been pierced by cloves and dried so that it lets off a wonderful aroma.
We cheat a bit by using mandarin oranges and kumquats – it’s faster and you can make more! They’re also lighter to hang…You can also use lemons or limes, but the skin is tougher to pierce.

Another tip – if you do a pattern it’s faster than covering the whole surface.

You’ll need:
Citrus fruit – as above
A box of whole cloves
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Orris Root powder – this is if you want to keep them longer than 2 or 3 weeks
Ribbon
Toothpicks / darning needles / skewer or other sharp instrument to poke holes

WHAT TO DO:
Pierce holes in your fruit in a pattern (e.g.lines or circles)
Push the cloves stem first into each hole
Mix together the spices and orris root if using
Roll the pomanders in the mixture
Leave to dry in a paper bag for a week or so. (If you’re impatient like us, skip this bit!)
Tie pretty ribbon around them and hang up!

These probably won’t last too long as they’ll smell so delicious they’ll get eaten…Once they’re hanging on your tree they’ll probably go stale so they’ll be safe!

The beauty of these is that you can leave them completely plain and use pretty ribbon, or go to town decorating them with icing, sprinkles, glitter etc!

You’ll need some shaped cookie cutters or a sharp knife to do them free-hand! Try hearts, stars, trees, angels etc

INGREDIENTS
350g / 12oz plain flour
175g / 6oz light soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons each of ground ginger & cinnamon
100g / 4oz butter – softened at room temperature1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 medium egg
4 tablespoons of golden syrup

WHAT TO DO:
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4
Mix the dry ingredients and butter in a mixing bowl until crumbly.
Add the wet ingredients (syrup and egg)
Mix until it forms a firm pastry
Leave to rest for 15 – 30 mins in the fridge to firm up

Use a rolling pin / bottle to roll the pastry out to about 5mm thick. Make sure the surface and the rolling pin are well dusted with flour.
Cut out the shapes with cookie cutter / knife
PIERCE a hole near the top with cocktail stick etc so you can hang by ribbon. Make it big as it will close up when baked

Place the shapes on a greased or non-stick baking tray(lined with baking paper)
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Decorate!